Senate tables its DREAM Act for House version

Senate Democrats voted to kill their own version of the DREAM Act on Thursday so they can consider the one passed Wednesday in the House, but final passage of the bill still seems like a long shot.

The Senate will move to the House bill "later this month," according to a joint statement Thursday afternoon from Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who introduced the immigration bill in the Senate.

"The DREAM Act is not a symbolic vote," Reid and Durbin said. "We owe it to the young men and women whose lives will be affected by this bill, and to the country which needs their service in the military and their skills in building our economy, to honestly address this issue. Members on both sides of the aisle need to ask themselves if we can afford to say to these talented young men and women there is no place in America for you."

The DREAM Act offers a path to citizenship for up to 2 million illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, provided they attend college or join the military for two years, among other requirements.

But the House bill isn't expected to survive a lame-duck vote in the Senate. Republicans have vowed to block any legislation this month that is unrelated to extending expiring tax cuts or funding the government, and Democrats don't appear to have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), another DREAM Act advocate, said a test vote on the measure could happen by next week, adding that the Senate's delay gives supporters more time to organize and lobby lawmakers still on the fence.

"We now have the weekend and into next week to launch a national mobilization to get the votes to enact this important bill that could literally change the course of hundreds of thousands of young lives and make our country and our military stronger," Gutierrez said.